House of Emesh

In the Allseas Port district of Halamahi, visitors traveling to the grand docks or bustling World's Delight Market are quick to spot the grand facade of the House of Emesh. The great temple dwarfs the surrounding shops and apartments, rising over three stories before and topped with a steep rooftop of glittering purple-painted tiles and many shining finials bearing the symbol of the gibbous moon. Two great pillars of painted marble center the facade, which is otherwise a chaotic extravaganza of colored glass, banners, ribbons, and intricately carved facade.   The twin pillars at the entrance are wrapped in woven ropes and water-resistant textile coverings - woven and dyed with rich traditional selkie patterns. The grand doors between them are carved with the Gibbous Moon, symbol of the building's divine patron. Entering the building, the reception area is a circle of shrines and art, with the grand altar positioned next to a front desk. Curiously, the layout is somewhere between a shop, a hotel, and a temple: the atmosphere is distinctly commercial, but there are still employees and visitors giving prayer and donations to the altar here. Emesh, the Lunar God of Knowledge and Anthropologist of Heaven, dominates this space. As a Lunar God, Emesh is worshipped in different ways across many religious traditions - he is simply an accepted part of the world rather than a matter of faith, even if different religious traditions disagree on his role, importance, and power. For this reason, the altars here at the House of Emesh see Pratasa faithful sharing space with Elemeeran devotees, Ishkibites, and irreligious drifters who want a blessing but aren't really invested in one faith or another. All of them give coppers for luck, maybe pay some gold to petition a local acolyte of Emesh to perform the Divine Contact to ask Emesh a question directly. The attendants at the front desk would be happy to arrange such a thing, if you are willing to wait a few weeks for the answer.   While there are plenty of newcomers looking for a bit of luck or wisdom, much of the traffic that flows through this reception area is less concerned with the divine patron of the place. The reception desk has a section for incoming guests hoping to go beyond the main shrine to the guest rooms. The back area of the House of Emesh is divided between guest rooms, servant's quarters, and acolyte space; the hotel part of the House of Emesh brushes right up against the holy spaces. Other corridors branch out from the reception area towards two connected structures: Emesh's Stash and Emesh's Hoard.   Emesh's Stash is an eclectic tavern and music club. It has its own entrance on a neighboring street, but is connected to both the hotel and the temple by both underground passageways and surface corridors. These surface corridors have other shops and houses pressed against them and over them, making them feel as strange and covert as the underground passages. The Stash is a strange building, broken into discrete areas with different decor and atmospheres. There's a traditional tavern area that serves food and drinks, a music club that spills into part of the tavern and often dabbles in unusual musical styles and very powerful cocktails, and a cafe that is as far from the music club as possible while serving both stimulants and alcohol. Strange characters drift through the Stash, collected from all over. Delusional hermits, quirky occultists with dreams of grandeur, representatives of minority religions, magical oddballs, outspoken political fringe voices, and well-seasoned globetrotters all share the space. Social norms are strange here and the eccentric regulars are quite used to speaking their mind on unusual topics or in rude ways. A visitor with sufficient coin can learn quite a lot or meet just about anyone here, but expect to meet your share of abrasive hangers-on along the way.   Emesh's Hoard is the premier bookstore and library of Halamahi. While the University may have more magical texts, the Hoard here has a larger collection of eclectic literature, foreign religious and philosophical texts, and rare esoteric books on highly niche subjects. Everything is hoarded, copied, translated, and sold here. Getting a book found, translated, and copied can be expensive, but the sheer range of available texts is unheard of in most cities. This is also where Paladin services are sold, for those seeking healing or for help getting a ship checked through quarantine.